EAST HAMPTON -- School officials won approval Monday to offer select teachers an early retirement package.

The Board of Education also authorized Superintendent of Schools Judith A. Golden to approach school unions about reopening their contracts to "seek concessions."

Both actions reflect continuing concern about the efforts to fashion the 2010-11 municipal budget.

"We need to capture as much as we can for the budget process," Golden said after the regular school board meeting adjourned Monday evening.

Golden said she intends to "exhaust every option" in an effort to carve out savings in the forthcoming budget.

She said approximately 30 to 35 teachers will be eligible to apply for early retirement under the proposal approved by the school board Monday.

The teachers -- all of whom must have at least 20 years service as teachers and at least 10 in the East Hampton school system -- have until Feb. 22 to respond to the offer, she said.

The offer applies to teachers who are at the maximum step on the teacher's salary schedule.

No more than 20 teachers can agree to take part in the program, according to a two-page memorandum of agreement between the school department and the teachers union, the East Hampton Education Association.

If just 10 teachers agree to accept the early retirement offer, "in year one, we expect to save as much as $160,000," Golden said. "By now, we should have an idea of how many teachers intend to retire" at the end of the school year.

However, in the current economic climate, "we aren't able predict any retirements," she said.

Teachers who might ordinarily be thinking of retiring are holding on to their jobs, she explained.

Teachers who accept the plan will be paid $24,000 in three installments from January, 2011 through 2013.

Board member Donald Coolican objected to the proposal, saying it would not result in any meaningful savings for the school system.

In the short term, he said, it does appear to offer a savings; but over five years, Coolican said, the proposal will wind up costing the school department $13,734 per teacher.

The school board also approved a proposal to reopen the contracts with the various school unions. That decision was unanimous, and came with no discussion.